Summer Daze
by tterrafirma
Summary: Three eight-year-olds, the one day Team 7, laze around on their first day of summer. Twelve years later, they recreate the memory. Sasusaku, implied Naruhina.


It was a hot day- the birds were too tired to chirp, the sidewalk seemed longer and sighing, and clothes stuck to the backs of the citizens in lifeless heaps of heat and sweat. The children begged their parents with nearly inexhaustible furor to let them stay home just this one day, but the parents replied with similar tenacity. No.

Begrudgingly, with glares shot backwards the whole way, the usually excited Konaha children trudged their way to the Acadamy, their parents tailing them the whole way. The lobby was full of shinobi who decided missions out of the country would be a great idea and small ninja-to-be would've given anything to swap places. That's what you're training for, the parents insisted, but the unanimous reply was an unsightly tongue poking its way out of eight-year-olds' mouths.

It was the last day before their teacher would let the children wander training grounds and hot springs alike; the last day of the school year that he would bother to cram knowledge in the children's heads; the last day of the first official year on their way to a hitai-ite and a jonin in a standard vest.

Here's an oddball- his parents are nowhere in sight. His goggles were pushed high onto his head, emulating the headband he's definitely after. The look on his face says eat dirt and the way he pushes through the crowds rudely in response to their shock sends the same message. His spiked up, yellow hair is easily tracked in a sea of browns and blacks, all the result of interclan marriage.

But, speaking of hair color, there's another strange one. Her red ribbon bounces nervously as her pink hair limply sticks to the back of her neck. She looks like she's come of her own free will, too, but a cautious glance back at a man with sakura-shaped hair suggests otherwise. She waves goodbye and with a sudden steeling of the face and balling of the fists, she looks upwards and tells a grown-up to move. Please? The man's face relaxes and he takes the girl's hand, leading her through the crowd. She thanks the shinobi and fixes her gaze on another boy.

His eyes are bright, yet black, and his face is pale. His older brother leads him through the crowd, his headband sticking to his forehead in sweat. Something that sounds like, Do you really have to go on a mission, Nii-san, is heard over the din of noise. The younger brother's eyes are pleading, upturned, imploring, and his lip holds a practiced pout expertly. It has worked before, apparently, for the boy to try it in public. The older brother smiles gently and jabs the boy's forehead affectionately. Sorry, Sasuke, we'll practice some other time.

The pink haired girl smiles at the scene she's seen before. It means this boy is loved by more than her. Her eyes, greener than jade, impossibly so, sparkle like the gem at the exchange. She straightens her ribbon carefully before approaching the brothers.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun," she smiles. "Hi, Itachi-san."

"Ahh, Sakura-san. How are you today?" Besides his ponytail clinging to his neck and the way his 's' sound seems lazy, Itachi feigns nothing in the way of discomfort at the heat.

"Sakura! Help me convince Itachi-nii-chan to stay here!" Sasuke balled his fists. "We could go play tomorrow with him if he doesn't leave!"

"Where are you going?" the girl quirked her whole head to the side, the ribbon lolling.

"I have a mission in Suna," the ponytailed man explained. "Unfortunately, it's hotter there than here." He turned to look at his brother. "I'd love to stay, Sasuke, but how about you invite Sakura-san and Naruto to the house tomorrow?"

The boy's eyes grew brighter and he brought his fists to his face excitedly. "Great idea!" In a whirlwind, he grabbed the girl's hand and waved at his brother. "Bye bye, Nii-san! Good luck on your mission!"

The shinobi smiled.

* * *

A scar-faced teacher drilled something into the students' heads for what felt like the thousandth time. He could tell their thoughts were thrown out the opened windows, though, and stopped speaking. No one noticed his pause. His mind wandered to where some of these children one day would be. Medics, no doubt, sat in class kicking their still too-short-to-reach-the-floor legs under sticky, wooden desks. ANBU squad leaders, potentially even ones to protect the Hokage, stuck their tongues out at spit wads flung at them. A police captain or even the Hokage himself could be cooped up in a chair with his sandals toed off and his legs crossed under him in rebellion to school. Teachers, too, surely sat staring at the ceiling counting the flecks on the popcorn ceiling, assuming the insurmountable task for the fiftieth time this semester.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and the students finally took note of the silence.

"Iruka-sensei," the goggled boy asked, "are you okay?"

The man nodded and resumed his lecture on the importance of focus.

Meanwhile, the pink haired girl had clamored her way over the dark haired boy and next to the goggled one. Her hand cupped to her lips, she whispered loudly, "Sasuke-kun's inviting us over tomorrow." With a suppressed giggle, she continued, "Do you think you can come?"

"Tell him I haven't asked okaasan yet," the dark haired boy murmured absentmindedly. He liked the way the girl's sequined sandals sparkled on her feet. She always looked pretty. His nii-san told him it was love.

The pinkette nodded and turned back to her other friend. "It's not official yet."

A grin spread over the goggled boy's face. "Sure, Sakura-chan!"

Her eyes flew open wide and she leaned her hands over his mouth. "Shh, or sensei'll hear!"

He nodded. After she removed her hands, he repeated, quieter this time, "Sure, Sakura-chan."

"The three of you! Hush!" The teacher had turned back to address the class and found the girl with her legs on the dark haired boy's lap while she leaned into the other boy to whisper something to him. The girl, doe-eyed, hung her pink head in shame and crawled over her friend's lap again. The boys tried to hide their embarrassment.

* * *

The next day, however, held even more heat in its stores for the three young friends to deal with. The dark haired mother smiled at her son when he presented his request with his friends trailing slowly behind in case of rejection. Her nod sent the boy to turn back and give his friends a thumbs-up.

Their first plan of action was to play tag in the backyard, but the boy's father nixed that idea. He had some clan meeting he was angry at the boy's brother for missing to attend to.

Sullen and sweaty, but still excited and unhindered by sensei, they took to the streets of the compound to play ball. The goggled one was the hitter, the dark haired one the pitcher, and the pinkette the catcher. The game continued for several turns that led to sweaty puddles of children giggling their heads off in antics. A ball hit by the girl rolled its way down the street and sent the children chasing it. Another, this one hit by the dark haired boy, barely missed the stereotypical window break and opted for bouncing hard off of a house's wooden edge. One ill-swung ball, however, by the goggled one, landed smack in the pond after flying over the trio's heads. The dark haired one said he wouldn't miss the ball after that kind of show. Grins grew on the other two's faces when they decided the next activity.

The girl promised to be right back and the goggled boy laughed. The dark haired one looked quizzically at his friend, an upturned glance that belied his flip flopping stomach. The heat must've been getting to him, he decided, for him to be this red in the face over the way the girl could hit the ball. It was downright impressive.

What happened next left his little ears burning.

The girl returned, red one piece covering her eight-year-old self. Her spindly legs spun around as she giggled, showing the bathing suit off to her friends. Hand lazily clinging to her sun hat, she asked, "What do you think?"

"You look great, Sakura-chan! Hey, Sasuke," he called punching the boy in the arm, "what d'yu think?"

The boy merely nodded. "Come on, Naruto, you can borrow one of my bathing suits."

* * *

They took turns diving as deep as they could, holding their breath long as possible, and determining who could do somersaults underwater best. Everything was a competition. But, with a purpose. The trio decided to pick the best swimmer to find the sunken baseball. The lake the dark haired boy learned to shoot fire jutsu at was too deep for the children to find its depths, however. The sun was turning in for the night when the pink haired girl yawned sleepily as she pulled herself out of the lake and onto the dock with the help of her friends.

"I've got to get home before Otousaan asks where I am," she confessed, tucking a pink curl behind her ear.

"We can walk you home, Sakura-chan! Right, Sasuke? We've gotta protect damsels in distress!"

"What kind of distress could I find in the village?" the pinkette mused, opening her arms wide and spinning around. "The village can't possibly hold any threat to me."

"No, Naruto's right," Sasuke muttered decidedly. "It wouldn't be proper. Okaasaan worries about proper."

So it was, arms linked and shared giggles uttered hushedly, that the future Team 7 set out on their first unofficial mission together- their future least favorite kind, ironically- escort.

* * *

The sun beat down harshly in visible rays as the pavement protested Sasuke's feet disturbing its rest. Like a sunning lizard, the sidewalks to the Village Hidden in the Leaves absorbed all too much sun in the hot months. Sweat from a spar with his team stuck to his skin and made his back run wet. His hitai-ite seemed like it was unaccustomed to his skin and it itched. All Sasuke wanted to do was grab a cold shower to beat the heat and sit in front of his AC unit to polish his kusinagi.

Hands carefully placed to block his eyes told him his plans wouldn't be fulfilled. "Sakura," his mouth sighed, "what is it?"

"That's no way to speak to your fiancée," she smiled, knowing her trump card always worked.

His lips twitched, unsure whether to smile at the thought or frown knowing he couldn't have a quiet evening. His hands grabbed hers and took them away from his eyes. He didn't like what he saw.

An excited Hokage-to-be grinned wildly at him. His best friend, he could deal without. The volume always skyrocketed around Konoha's favorite knucklehead. "Sasuke, I have an idea."

"Of course you do," he replied, glancing back at Sakura. A less-wild smile was plastered to her face. The way her bangs stuck to her forehead made him chuckle. She would always look pretty. "Et tu, Brute?"

She nodded. "Sasuke-kun, it'll be fun. Come on." Her hands pulled his arm up against her and she began to drag him along.

He sighed. "That's what you always say. The last time you said that we looked at flowers for the wedding."

Naruto chuckled. "Trust me, Sasuke, you won't regret this."

* * *

Sasuke was confused when Sakura held up a bag, shaking it, and dashed into his house calling, "I'll be back!"

"What do you mean-?"

Sasuke jumped inwardly at Naruto's hand on his shoulder. "Just trust me." His grin grew wilder in antication, but Sasuke wasn't convinced.

He was still glancing askance at Naruto when he heard, "Well, how do I look?"

His eyes seemed to move slower in the heat. At least, everything had to be slower. Right? His fiancée stood before him in an adorable red two-piece, her still-skinny legs twirling her around. Hands were clasping lazily at a sun hat that held her short ponytail out of her face.

The swimwear was by no means immodest, but Sakura was always a show-stopper in what she felt comfortable in. Sasuke smiled inwardly. Still, for her to show up in a bathing suit... What was going on-?

"Come on, man," Naruto grinned. "Answer the lady! I brought swim trunks for you, too, in case you don't have any. I won't need to borrow them this time."

"This time?"

His friends' faces fell. "You don't remember?" He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see his fiancée grip her arm with a pout firmly planted on her face.

Slowly, he shook his head until the memory dawned on him. "I have my own bathing suit," he told Naruto, and as he ran in the house, kissed Sakura while quietly answering, "you look great."

Naruto's grin returned fiercer and he ran after his friend. "We'll be back in a minute, Sakura-chan!"

* * *

Sasuke was impressed at how quickly his friends had pulled him back in time. They weren't attempting to see who could hold their breath the longest this time around, but they still coerced him into diving underwater to find the ball they'd lost over a decade ago.

"Sakura, it's been twelve years," he muttered after Naruto had revived his latest attempt. "Do you really think that ball's even there anymore?"

She smiled disarmingly. "I don't know, really, but it's vital to stage two of the plan."

"The plan?"

"I've said too much!" she giggled and covered her mouth.

A large splashing sound called the couple away from each other. Naruto had surfaced, his face in the biggest grin of the day. Sasuke thought he'd end up with laugh lines at twent-five from those kinds of smiles.

But the blond's find put a small smile on Sasuke's face. The old baseball Itachi had given him, with tattered stitching long-faded by lake water. Small parts looked like a fish had nibbled at it, and the dirt it had been covered with was replaced with a green film of algae. But it was the same ball alright, Sasuke had eagerly carved his name into it after receiving it along with a kunai for his eighth birthday.

His hand reached out for it and he rubbed his thumb along the edges where his kunai had dug into leather all those years ago. Before the massacre, before he left the village, before the war. Before, before, before. So many things had changed since his poor ball had found its way to lake-bottom, and it showed on Sasuke's body from battle scars and muscle.

The lone Uchiha looked up at his friends who smiled back at him, expectantly. They were waiting for him. Like they always had been. He smiled back. "I don't have a bat," he admitted, and their smiles grew wider, "but I'm pretty sure there's a good tree back there we could pull a branch off of."

Focusing chakra onto his hands, Naruto pushed himself out of the water and ran along its top towards the forest Sasuke had mentioned. Sakura and Sasuke followed suit but took their pace towards the dock.

Sakura ran her fingers through her hair and, upon Sasuke's offer, draped one of his t-shirts over her until she dried off. Sasuke threw a towel at her head and she scowled lightly as he dried himself off. When Naruto returned he flashed his pick- a thick branch that likely once would have been a perfect first step on climbing a tree.

Sasuke threw the ball into the air and it audibly spun before gravity brought it back to his hand. The trio smiled as he called, "play ball."

Sakura dug her heels into the dirt, her legs still dripping water onto the once well-traveled ground. Her hands flew up in front of her face and a determined look planted itself there.

Sasuke lost all traces of a smile as his eyes narrowed and he wound his shoulder back a few times, loosening muscles he hadn't used for this purpose in a long time. He felt the stitching on the ball and let his palm rest flush against it.

Naruto, still goofy looking in his intensity, clung his hands to the tree branch practicedly. One leg swung behind the other and his fingers drummed against the branch. His eyes traveled up from Sasuke's feet to his eyes and back to his hands. What was he waiting for? Naruto gulped as he watched the swift, fluid motion of the Uchiha's arm cocking back and flinging forward.

It was his time to react. Swinging wildly, he felt the ball make contact with the branch and hoped it was flexible enough to push back. His eyes closed temporarily in a prayer. When he opened them, he was surprised to see the ball listlessly roll down the street, hopping along occasionally as if it wanted no part in the twenty-year-olds' shenanigans.

Sakura swung her arms behind him. "Safe," she called laughing, and hopped up to help catch the runaway ball.

Naruto dropped the stick and followed his friends along the path. His foot caught on a wayward rock, however, and a gash opened up. He watched as his world came spinning towards the pavement and his hands caught him reflexively. The other two turned back holding the ball and Sasuke chuckled lightly.

Sakura clicked her tongue and helped him up. The three walked to Sasuke's porch and plopped down onto the old wooden frame. Sakura thought sadly that someone else lived in this house the last time she saw it. Her medical instinct quickly took over and she spun Naruto to face her as she inspected his wound.

"Minor," she remarked, and placed his foot back on the ground. "Kurama will have it healed in a few minutes."

Sasuke nodded and righted himself, after apparently bending over to look with the medic.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Sakura-chan!"

She grinned back.

The sun was lowering itself onto the horizon slowly that night and decided to do so with a color display of pinks and oranges Sasuke recognized from his fiancée's hair. The occasional purple cloud blew lazily past the common white and cast silly shadows on the earth.

Naruto's stomach grumbled and he scratched his head in response.

Sakura laughed and stood up. "Wanna go to Ichiraku's?" she asked in an open invitation to either boy.

Both nodded and the trio made their way to the ramen stall.

Kakashi occupied the forth seat in the booth when they arrived and the trio waved to their old sensei.

"What've you been up to?" he asked, noting their attire.

"Nostalgia," Naruto proudly grinned before ordering.

Sasuke smirked. "I'm impressed you know the word."

A soft punch to the arm was Sakura's reply. "Be nice," the pinkette laughed. "I'll have the miso ramen," she smiled at the owner.

"The same," Sasuke glanced, then returned his gaze to his friends.

"What does nostalgia involve that you're wearing Sasuke's shirt?" Kakashi continued.

"Lake swimming," Naruto mumbled between slurps of noodles.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow quirked upward. "Alright, I give up," he chuckled, and, ruffling Sakura's hair, he walked away with a wave. "Enjoy the night."

* * *

The cicadas chirped loudly and the lights in the booth shone brightly against the dark night. Some people wandered the streets, taking solace in the escape from the heat. The trio left money on the table and wandered away, absorbing themselves into the crowd until Naruto called, "Ahh, my wife's probably wondering where I am!"

Sakura frowned. "You didn't tell Hinata?"

He shied away from her glare and scurried off. "Bye Sakura-chan! Bye Sasuke!"

The Uchiha turned to his fiancée and smirked. "There's only one part of this memory to relive, then."

She jumped as he put his arm through hers and gently guided her to her apartment. "Sasuke-kun?"

"The escort home. Okaasaan always stressed proper behavior. I expect our children one day will have to learn decorum, too," he muttered.

Her face burned at the mention of children.

Noticing this, he turned to her. "Did you expect we wouldn't have them? I always thought you wanted at least one."

"I do, just... Don't say it so...bluntly," she stumbled over her words.

He squeezed her arm in his. "Sorry." A moment later, he announced, "We're here. Thanks for the day," he flashed her a rarely large smile. "Get me my shirt back whenever. Or keep it. The wedding's in a couple months, our laundry'll be mixed up then."

She nodded. "There's one part you're forgetting. I remember this day so well because of it." Her sudden smirk took him aback.

"What was it?"

She frowned just as suddenly. "Nee, you couldn't have forgotten! Sasuke-kun."

His eyes popped open and his palms turned sweaty. "Our first kiss. That was my fault, wasn't it?"

"Naruto's, actually," Sakura corrected. "But yes." She leaned up to press her lips against his. "And this is mine."

* * *

**A/N: **_Thanks for reading my silly distract or from homework. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! Please review- it helps a writer grow! _


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